9.1-126 - Application and construction of article. - Virginia Statutes

§ 9.1-126. Application and construction of article.

A. This article shall apply to original or copied criminal history recordinformation, maintained by a criminal justice agency of (i) the Commonwealthor its political subdivisions and (ii) the United States or another state orits political subdivisions which exchange such information with an agencycovered in clause (i), but only to the extent of that exchange.

B. The provisions of this article shall not apply to original or copied (i)records of entry, such as police blotters, maintained by a criminal justiceagency on a chronological basis and permitted to be made public, if suchrecords are not indexed or accessible by name, (ii) court records of publiccriminal proceedings, including opinions and published compilations thereof,(iii) records of traffic offenses disseminated to or maintained by theDepartment of Motor Vehicles for the purpose of regulating the issuance,suspension, revocation, or renewal of drivers' or other operators' licenses,(iv) statistical or analytical records or reports in which individuals arenot identified and from which their identities cannot be ascertained, (v)announcements of executive clemency, pardons, or removals of politicaldisabilities, (vi) posters, announcements, or lists for identifying orapprehending fugitives or wanted persons, (vii) criminal justice intelligenceinformation, or (viii) criminal justice investigative information. Except asprovided in §§ 15.2-1722, 16.1-299, and 19.2-390, nothing contained in thisarticle shall be construed as requiring any criminal justice agency tocollect, maintain, or update criminal history record information, as definedin § 9.1-101, when such information is already available and readilyaccessible from another criminal justice agency.

C. Nothing contained in this article shall be construed as prohibiting acriminal justice agency from disclosing to the public factual informationconcerning the status of an investigation, the apprehension, arrest, release,or prosecution of an individual, the adjudication of charges, or thecorrectional status of an individual, which is related to the offense forwhich the individual is currently within the criminal justice system.

(1981, c. 632, § 9-184; 2001, c. 844; 2007, c. 389.)